New Harry Potter book to be released this summer

Published:07:00Friday 12 February 2016

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A new Harry Potter book will be released nine years after JK Rowling’s final story, The Deathly Hallows.

Rowling’s website Pottermore confirmed that the script of the new stage play Harry Potter And The Cursed Child will be released as a book on 31 July, the day after the play’s world premiere and, fans will note, Harry’s birthday.

The Cursed Child is officially the eighth book in the Harry Potter canon and will be released in two versions: a Special Rehearsal Edition using the script performed in the play’s previews, before being replaced later by a Definitive Collector’s Edition.

The news will be a relief for fans worldwide who are desperate to join in the new chapter of Harry, Ron and Hermione’s adventure, but unable to get tickets to the play, which at the moment has only been confirmed to show in London.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ended 19 years after the Battle of Hogwarts, as Harry waved his two eldest children off to the wizarding school.

The Cursed Child will pick up from that moment, focusing on Harry as a Ministry of Magic civil servant and his middle child Albus Severus, struggling under the weight of the family’s legacy. This will be the first tale in the Harry Potter canon not to be penned by Rowling.